Foreign student recounts toilet incident with bouncer

A Dutch teenage girl yesterday recounted in court how a bouncer at a St Julians bar pushed her into the men's toilets, locked the door, sexually assaulted her and then told her to keep his "little secret".

The 17-year-old English language student testified with urgency during the arraignment of Mark Anthony Ellul, 35, of St Julians who pleaded not guilty to violent indecent assault at Cocoloco on Monday at about 10.30 p.m.

The girl said she went to the bar with a group of about 10 German friends because they knew that the tequila was cheap there. As her friends were queuing to get their drinks, the bouncer called her.

"When I went next to him he pushed me into the men's toilet and locked the door," she said in broken English.

She explained what happened, adding that at one stage, as he moved towards the toilet, she managed to unlock the door and slip out of the room.

"When I was still in the room he told me: 'It is my little secret. Don't tell it.' Those were his exact words....

"I did not scream while I was in the toilet because I was frightened. In the Netherlands security guards are very important. I thought I couldn't do anything to stop him," she said.

The young witness recognised Mr Ellul as her aggressor and explained that on the night he was wearing black trousers and a black t-shirt with the word "security" written in white at the back. There were no other bouncers present at the bar apart from him.

She also said she had been to the bar several times before and, on a previous occasion, the bouncer had asked to see her student card and enquired where she was from.

Under cross examination, she said she had not consumed any alcohol before the incident. She also admitted she had not informed the police immediately about the incident because she could not express herself properly in English and was intimidated by the fact that her aggressor was a bouncer.

The police were informed after she opened up to her group leader the following day.

When the girl stepped off the witness stand and left the court room Mr Ellul stood up and told Magistrate Consuelo Scerri Herrera: "Please, please. There is no one who can help me. Why is she lying? Why?"

"We'll see about that," the magistrate replied and granted him bail on condition he does not approach any of the prosecution's witnesses and does not leave his home without court permission.

He was further bound by a personal guarantee of Lm1,000.

Police Inspectors Carmelo Abdilla and Martin Sammut prosecuted.

Lawyer Patrick Valentino was defence counsel.